KawsOne

You never know what you are going to find in Japan.
One night I was exploring my favorite part of Tokyo, Shibuya,
when the distinctive flesh tones of the Simpsons caught my eye.
It was on a poster advertising "KAWS TOKYO FIRST"--an
art exhibition at the Parco
Gallery (March 16, 2001-April 16, 2001). This gallery is on
the top floor of a huge department store.

Inside was a bizarre collection of Simpsons characters,
Mickey Mouses, and Michelin Men with crosses for eyes and bones
through their heads. Photography was prohibited, but, of course,
there was a book and other items for sale.

One wall was covered with oversize packages (16"
x 16") modeled after the Simpsons Playmates figures, except
that each one contained a beautiful oil painting of an x-eyed Simpsons
character and instead of "The Simpsons," it said "The
Kimpsons." This was the most arresting part of the exhibit,
but unfortunately, it is not reproduced in the book. You can buy
one of the packaged oil paintings for only 125,000 yen (approx.
US$1000).

An aside: Browsing the net looking for related material
for this page, I was struck by the almost universal attempt to create
non-sequitur imagery and "explore the boundaries" of this
or that. But all things considered, there's probably nothing more
thought-provoking than the found images in the Ebay
Conceptual Art Gallery. Honorable mention should also go to
the elegant covers
of Relax, a Japanese-language
magazine.

The KawsOne museum catalog and sticker set. I
think maybe you are supposed to stick the stickers somewhere in
public. A previous
Kaws' exhibition featured his bone-head faces on billboards.

Astrid: Your husband's work is what we call
"outsider art". It could be by a
mental patient, or a hillbilly, or a chimpanzee.
Homer: [gasps] In high school I was voted most likely
to *be* a mental
patient, hillbilly, or chimpanzee!
from The Simpsons, "Mom and Pop Art"